This is the first book I have read in the DS Karen Hart series and I really struggled to get into it, I did preserver to the end but I’m afraid it’s just not for me.

My reaction to Don't Turn Back is generally positive, but I hasten to add that the characters in the novel were not very likable. For whom was I supposed to root? The most likely candidate is the protagonist, Karen Hart, for whom the series is named. But I didn't particularly like her either. The fault may be mine,or perhaps the author needs to work on character development.
Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC.

Read this straight through.
Love the Karen Hart character.
DS Hart is a detective in Lincolnshire. Her husband and daughter died in a car crash and she is still trying to come to terms with it.
She is called to attend the discovery of a body in nearby woods.
The man has been battered to death and they struggle to identify him.
A beer mat from a nearby pub with date and time on it is the only clue.
The story moves at a good pace and soon Karen is involved in people smuggling ring and police corruption.
This is a really enjoyable British crime novel with some good twists and turns and an exciting ending.
Well written characters and plot.
I have read the Jack Mackinnon books and can recommend both these series.

An excellent suspense-filled police procedural. Detective Karen Hart still has nightmares from losing her husband and daughter to an accident that she has always thought was no accident. As she tries to get back in the swing of investigating, she's thrown into a murder mystery and human trafficking cases that take her back to the case she was working on when her family was ripped from her life. When a suspect says to her, "You should have learned your lesson last time," she begins to wonder if the loss of her family is somehow related to these new cases. She seems to be thwarted in her investigations from all sides, and she's frustrated but determined. It's a great read with lots of guilty possibilities. Will she survive this precarious situation or end up losing her career as she pursues her hunches? Danger lurks in every shadow.

This just didn't have enough going on to keep my attention. I was stuck home in quarantine and kept reading hoping the ending would be a good twist, but nothing much happened. If I had known it ended so weakly I would have stopped way before the end.

4.5 Stars
This was a first for me with this author but will not be a last. I was taken on a ride and thoroughly enjoyed it.
We are with a woman who is a detective. She has recently endured the tragic loss of her husband and child in a car crash. This has thrust her into working none stop to block out everything else in her life.

This takes place in a village that seems perfect...charming etc....and maybe too perfect. Because with the discovery of this dead man...all the secrets of this village start to seep out.
Well Done.

Review of eBook

The discovery of a savagely beaten man’s body in the woodland sends shock-waves through the little village of Canwick. Detective Sergeant Karen Hart, still reeling from the deaths of her husband and young daughter some five years earlier, investigates and finds hints of a modern-day slavery ring. As the investigation forges ahead, witnesses begin to disappear and it soon becomes clear that there is a strong conspiracy working to hide the truth. Can Karen trust the information she’s given? And what will the truth reveal?

This, the third in the Karen Hart series, is a quick-read mystery that contains sufficient backstory to work well as a stand-alone for readers new to the series. There are plenty of twists and turns, but, at times, Karen seems far too caught up in the tragedy of the past, a plot point that serves to interrupt any suspense surrounding the story-lines involving the current murder investigation and the probe into a possible human slavery ring. Instead of being well-developed, some characters more closely resemble caricatures and astute readers will figure out everything early in the telling of the tale.

Rather than moving the story forward, the possibility of long-standing corruption within the police department seems to serve only as a convenient explanation for previous events and is certain to be hugely off-putting for many readers.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Amazon Publishing UK and NetGalley
#DontTurnBack #NetGalley

Don't Turn Back is the third in Butler's Detective Karen Hart series. While I probably would've had a better understanding of Karen Hart's background and character if I had read the first two in the series, this also works well as a stand-alone novel. When Karen Hart is called to a murder, she revisits the case that she was working on at the time her husband and daughter died in a car accident. The new case digs up feelings from her past.

I really enjoyed this book. It was well written, and the characters are well developed with just enough background. I loved getting to know Detective Karen Hart and her team. The book was written from multiple viewpoints, which really gave the reader a full picture of the case they were working on. This was my first D.S. Butler novel, but it certainly won't be my last.

Incredibly boring. I couldn’t find anything interesting in this modern-day slavery ring to finish the book.

I've received each book in this series from Netgalley since book one. It just continues to get better and better. Hope to see this series continue.

Thanks NetGalley for this advanced copy! This was the first book I have read from this author. It was fast paced and just the type of thriller I am in to.

This was my first experience with DS Karen Hart and I was not disappointed. It is not necessary to read the first two installments to enjoy this novel. The author does a great job of painting the backstory.

The premise of this novel is a murder. The man is bludgeoned to death and also may be tied to human trafficking. DS Hart is investigating this while still being haunted (who wouldn't be) by the accidental deaths of her husband and daughter that happened 5 years ago. The pacing of this novel is wonderful and keeps you guessing.

I look forward to finding out what happens next!

A special thank you to NetGalley, Amazon Publishing UK, and D.S. Butler for providing me with this ARC.

Still reeling from the end of the book!
Still trying to wrap my head around the implications from the last case of Detective Hart. Intense reading from the very first chapter, the drama and action held me hostage until the last page. One of the most interesting and intriguing crime fiction series out right now, it is definitely worthy of your time.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced copy of the book .
#netgalley #dontturnback

I found this book overall a pleasant read. The case was an interesting twist on the typical murder mystery. I found some of the characters to be a bit irritating, I would have preferred for more chapters be from the perspective of the main male detective. The end intrigued me to read the next.

I would give it a 3.5 stars

Don’t Turn Back, @dsbutlerauthor gets 5 * from me. Just love this Detective Karen Hart series. And book three has left me wanting more!

This is book three. Don’t Turn Back can stand alone, however you’ll get a more in-depth appreciation of what’s going on if you read books one and two. D S Butler has ingeniously scattered seeds here and there in her previous books that come together as you read this book.

As I mentioned in my review of #wheresecretslie Detective Karen Hart doesn’t let anything go and if you read the previous two books you’ll see what I mean when you read #dontturnback.

It starts well ‘He was going to die tonight. But that didn’t slow him down. His death might have been inevitable, but a primitive urge to flee kept his legs moving as he stumbled up the mist-cloaked escarpment.’

‘Terrified, he turned to face the snapping jaws and heard the cold laugh of victory – the sound of a man who’d caught his prey.’

The story has two separate cases moving along side by side, one about human trafficking and the other a murder..... with a connection to the Red Lion Pub. Karen has history with Patricia and Rod Perry, the owners of the pub, and when Patricia hissed ‘You should have learned your lesson last time.’ Karen was knocked off balance and needed to understand why she had said this... Karen Hart is haunted by the loss of her husband and daughter.

Full of twists and turns and Butler writes in great detail.

‘The man had no morals. No qualms about killing. He’d kill again given the chance. xxxxxxxx injuries, his smashed face and skull, had made it clear his killer was a man out of control. The cool, conceited way he delivered his lines told her this was rehearsed.’

‘Stay calm. Screaming at him won’t help.’ ‘She wanted answers so badly. Needed them. But had it really come to this? Relying on this man for answers? He was a psychopath. There was no remorse for what he’d done, no empathy for his victims.’

‘She felt the familiar tug of her old obsession – the uncertainty, the paranoia – but it was different this time. Now, she wasn’t working alone. She looked up and handed Morgan one of the forensic reports. He smiled as he took it from her. ‘It might take a while, but we’ll get answers.’ Karen returned his smile and raised her glass. ‘Yes. This time, we will.’

I don’t want to say much more, not into spoilers, just buy the book and enjoy!

A door is left open to more books in the series. Here’s to book four of the 🕵️‍♀️ Karen Hart series! 💃💃💃

A man is found bludgeoned to death in woodland by the village of Canwick, and the close-knit community is sent into shock. Detective Karen Hart, still haunted by the tragic loss of her husband and daughter nearby, is brought in to investigate the horrific murder.
It soon becomes clear that dark secrets lie behind Canwick’s unspoiled appearance. When Hart begins to suspect that a modern-day slavery ring has been hiding in plain sight among the villagers, she faces a race to find proof before the culprits slip from her grasp. But when key witnesses start disappearing, it’s obvious that there’s a deep-rooted conspiracy to keep prying eyes away from the truth.
This is the third book in the series & can be read on its own. I haven’t read the earlier books but after being totally caught up in this book I’ll certainly be reading them now. A fast paced story, well defined characters all made for a read that I was loathe to put down & I read it in two sittings. There are plenty of twists, turns & red herrings also some revelations that had me gasping & made the pages fly by. I liked that it was written from the point of view of the investigators so I was able to see if I could work out the solution before the team
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Loved this book. Karen Hart at her best true saying be careful who you trust. Cant wait to read more books like this

Another book with detective Karen Hart. A brilliant series of books. Tense and thrilling. Next one please.

Don’t Turn Back, by D.S. Butler, is the third book in her series featuring DS Karen Hart.

A man is found bludgeoned to dead. In his pocket, a scribbled beer mat from a pub. Buried not too far from the body, a mysterious ledger. Investigating the Red Lion pub, DS Karen Hart and her boss, DI Scott Morgan, discover undocumented workers hidden in a garage.

What begins as two seemingly separate cases, one allowing DS Hart to prove old suspicions against the Red Lion’s owners, turn into a nationwide investigation in human trafficking. An investigation, quite different from the previous ones, that will bring back ghosts from both DS Hart and DI Morgan’s pasts, and lead to shocking revelations.

Although this book can be read as a standalone, it can only be fully appreciated if you have read the previous entries in the series. D.S. Butler subtly seeded several plot points in her first two novels that all come together in quite a thrilling way in the course of this story.

The author keeps to her usual style of a third person narration alternating the point of views of the multiple characters featured in the story. It’s particularly efficient this time around, as events bring back DS Hart’s paranoia with a vengeance, and push DI Morgan back to keeping to himself. The outside POV of the team’s two young DCs, and of other protagonists (and antagonists), bring us to doubt the two main characters, and ourselves, as to what is really going up with the investigation. Multiple narrators means some, if not all, have to be unreliable.

This time around, more time is spent on the investigation itself, and less on the personal lives of the team. That is, until those personal lives come crashing into the story, all the way to a very satisfying payoff.

Not much more can be written without spoiling anything. Unexpectedly, the three books finally end up forming a trilogy, rewarding the constant reader. Do not worry, however, as a door is left open to more books in the series.

Thanks to Netgalley, Thomas & Mercer, and Amazon Publishing for the ARC provided in exchange for this unbiased review.


Review of book one : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3202221086

Review of book two : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3213896315

Full review to be published online in early April.


DON’T TURN BACK begins with an unnamed character on the run, and he’s determined to hide a notebook before he is caught. The discovery of his body leads a relieved Karen to leave an awkward family barbecue. She lost her husband and daughter in a tragic accident prior to the first book and although she’s still coming to terms with it, her sister is chivvying her along to start a new relationship! Subsequent events in this book make her recovery process even harder.

Without giving away the plot, parts of it are very believable but I felt the underlying police corruption theme was a bit contrived and to me the ending, and those involved were telegraphed from quite early on.

I did enjoy it but just felt I wasn’t as invested in Karen as I should’ve been - she and her boss seemed to change personalities when the ex colleagues appeared and Karen changed from a strong woman to someone who took orders from a subordinate. I know that the upheaval in her personal life from what she learns doesn’t help but I felt it was a little unbelievable. I enjoyed it enough to continue the series, however.

Third book in a series by J S Butler.